We have previously discussed how, after Sept. 11th, officials have simply begun to classify acts to be terrorism to use ramped up surveillance and sentencing laws. It was inevitable that with Western countries giving official unprecedented anti-terror powers, they would start to move as many crimes as possible under the expanding category. That is evident after it was disclosed this week that British authorities framed the case against David Miranda, the partner of journalist Glenn Greenwald, as a case of terrorism “terrorism” for carrying documents from Edward Snowden.

We have previously discussed the alleged decision of Greenwald to have his partner serve as a courier of the documents. Putting aside the wisdom of using family or personal friends as couriers or colleagues in such cases, it was clearly not terrorism unless you view all whistleblowers and journalists as engaged in terrorism when exposing abusive surveillance.

Miranda filed a lawsuit over his treatment at Heathrow. At a hearing, a document called a “Ports Circulation Sheet” was read into the record from Scotland Yard. The document was written in consultation with the MI5 counterintelligence agency and states that “Intelligence indicates that Miranda is likely to be involved in espionage activity which has the potential to act against the interests of UK national security.” That is of course an absurd conclusion since they knew of his connection to Greenwald. However, the document then includes the following line: “Additionally the disclosure, or threat of disclosure, is designed to influence a government and is made for the purpose of promoting a political or ideological cause. This therefore falls within the definition of terrorism…”

That is the chilling line. It seems something right out of “V for Vendetta” and all that is missing is Peter Creedy and his agents of Finger.

Police officials say that items seized from Miranda included electronic media containing 58,000 documents from the U.S. National Security Agency and its British counterpart, Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ). Greenwald immediately said that his partner was carrying the Snowden documents.

The casual and easy transition from a journalist/whistleblower case to a terrorism case demonstrates the slippery slope that the West is now on. These officials did not appear to have the slightest hesitation in converting the case into a terrorism case. Indeed, they created a type of legal shape shifting charge where they could claim either espionage or terrorism — effectively admitting that such classifications are now entirely arbitrary.

It is distressing to see both England and the United States slipping into such authoritarian constructs. What is most distressing is that the desire for such powers seems to reside like a dormant virus in some law enforcement circles. The ease with which the Miranda case was treated as espionage or terrorism shows an utter lack of concern over the implications of such ill-defined offenses. Under this definition, the Pentagon Papers could be treated as the same act as the 9-11 bombings.

So, this means that the Pentagon Papers were distributed to the Washington Post by terrorists. Therefore, the Washington Post, the New York Times, and other newspapers are Terrorist Operations. That would be the same with the London newspapers.

England is no better than in 1776. Cameron is a Redcoat in sheeps clothing or a weenie with no bikini.

It has now been made a criminal offense in the US to encrypt something that may be used in a prosecution at some time in the unforeseeable future. Without going into the full painful details, refer to the case of US v Kernell. That case had to do with the deletion of computer files before any investigation of Kernell’s email hack was begun. In fact, he deleted the files within minutes of hacking into Sarah Palin’s emails.

The video is rather long at 44 minutes, but for both lawyers and computer users, it should be “must viewing.” This is a presentation given at SchmooCon 2012. This talk is so good, it ought to carry CLE credits for watching it.

If anyone has an opportunity to attend either SchmooCon or DEF CON annual meetings, it may be worth it. The next SchmooCon will be held in DC on Jan. 17-19, 2014. http://www.shmoocon.org/

DEF CON 22 will take place August 7-10, 2014 at the Rio Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Reblogged this on veritasusa and commented:
The war on terror, like the war on drugs before it, was an artificially created and unnecessary construct that was created to allow the Federal Government – specifically the executive branch – to seize more liberty and curtail the civil rights of American citizens. Emergency war powers allows the executive unprecedented powers and enables them to largely ignore the Bill of Rights

24 “Four things on earth are small,
yet they are extremely wise:
25 Ants are creatures of little strength,
yet they store up their food in the summer;
26 hyraxes are creatures of little power,
yet they make their home in the crags;
27 locusts have no king,
yet they advance together in ranks;
28 a lizard can be caught with the hand,
yet it is found in kings’ palaces.”

Field manual (FM) 3-39.40 is aligned with FM 3-39, the military police keystone FM. FM 3-39.40 provides guidance for commanders and staffs on internment and resettlement (I/R) operations. This manual addresses I/R operations across the spectrum of conflict, specifically the doctrinal paradigm shift from traditional enemy prisoner of war (EPW) operations to the broader and more inclusive requirements of detainee operations.

Additionally, FM 3-39.40 discusses the critical issue of detainee rehabilitation. It describes the doctrinal foundation, principles, and processes that military police and other elements will employ when dealing with I/R populations. As part of internment, these populations include U.S. military prisoners, and multiple categories of detainees (civilian internees [CIs], retained personnel [RP], and enemy combatants), while resettlement operations are focused on multiple categories of dislocated civilians (DCs).

Military police conduct I/R operations during offensive, defensive, stability, or civil support operations. I/R operations include military police support to U.S. military prisoner and detainee operations within operational environments (OEs), ranging from major combat operations to humanitarian-assistance missions in support of a
host nation (HN) or civil agency.

A new report by the U.S. Army War College talks about the possibility of Pentagon resources and troops being used should the economic crisis lead to civil unrest, such as protests against businesses and government or runs on beleaguered banks.

“Widespread civil violence inside the United States would force the defense establishment to reorient priorities in extremis to defend basic domestic order and human security,” said the War College report.

The study says economic collapse, terrorism and loss of legal order are among possible domestic shocks that might require military action within the U.S.

(Phoenix Biz Journal). It takes a long time to prepare a manual like that, so were the prescient or fulfilling their own prophecy?

The price for getting in bed with evil, has always been the U.S mantra–the micro and macro management of sin by lawyers is nothing but a money making venture to anoint those who use their education against the rights of the individual to life, liberty and his own pursuits of happiness, unabated by those using their positions to sell sin for profit. It is what built the U.S and declared its independence from Great Britain. People who use their Atheism to justify their lack of morality is the great conflict–money simply exacerbates the weak man from the strong one–it is the Jeffersonian reference to a single Zealot be the persecutor of better men. When it’s this ideology that sits in the top of the CIA, NSA, FBI or Congress where power is wielded from the top down, then we as a country are in big trouble. There is little to no moral integrity left from the White House to Congress and to all branches of government including states and local governments on the drug cartel and mob payrolls–all in the name of money hoarding by whores and their pimps like the Kochs et al.

For all we know, the Queen herself is a hacker or MI-6 is just as lowly as any U.S based gutter wader. I think when people use electronic terrorism against innocent others, it is nothing more than Kubrick’s 2001 A Spacy Odyssey where the monkeys discover a large bone, used as a weapon can be useful in taking whatever another monkey has. The tools get more sophisticated but the monkeys stay the same–violent, aggressive and overly zealous about taking from others, what the tool wielder cannot create for him or her self. When I see technologists today, I just see a bunch of flea picking monkeys with no abilities to control the power of electricity that is greater than the self-moderation of humility or self control which “choice” made the man separate from the monkey. We are returning to Neanderthallisms by this lack of maturity and self-control that sets man apart from the Apes.

From article: “Additionally the disclosure, or threat of disclosure, is designed to influence a government and is made for the purpose of promoting a political or ideological cause. This therefore falls within the definition of terrorism…” ”
*

I read this and just shake my head, not because it is abominable, which it is, but because the precursors for our own slide into fungibility of the definition of “Terrorist” has been around so long and become so commonplace.

Activists in the animal rights and environmental movement have been cast in the popular press as terrorists, for years. We have the same kind of gag-orders and criminalization of information at work with Ag Gag laws, written by ALEC and lobbyists. Once laws criminalizing the disclosure of information in the private sector are passed it’s just a short hop to public sector suppression of information dissemination using the same tools.

We have good reason to fear that whistle-blowers will soon be labeled terrorists and we have a legislative history in the public and private sector that makes it all but inevitable IMO. Whistle-blower legislation hasn’t ever done anything to really protect whistle-blowers from most forms of official retaliation and when you start dealing with any information deemed worthy of security classification (and public disclosure) those slight, primarily cosmetic protections evaporate.
**

From Wikipedia:

The Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (AETA) is a United States federal law (Pub.L. 109–374; 18 U.S.C. § 43) that prohibits any person from engaging in certain conduct “for the purpose of damaging or interfering with the operations of an animal enterprise.”[

From The Nation:
“Ag Gag” laws are a species of state-level legislation that has been vigorously pushed by lobbyists over the last several years to criminalize and suppress the exposure of inhumane practices in animal agricultural operations. In essence, the laws protect the industry by making whistle-blowers into outlaws ….

In 2002, the American Legislative Exchange Council—the conservative law-drafting organization behind Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law and Arizona’s anti-immigrant SB1070—took the approach one step further. ALEC drafted a piece of “model legislation” for distribution to lobbyists and state lawmakers across the country in an effort to make Ag Gag into a national phenomenon. The model bill, called The Animal and Ecological Terrorism Act, proposed prohibiting activists from, among other things, “entering an animal or research facility to take pictures by photograph, video camera, or other means with the intent to commit criminal activities or defame the facility or its owner.” It also proposed the creation of a “terrorist registry” that would contain the names, addresses and photographs of those convicted under the proposed law.”

“The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board holds a public hearing on recommended changes to surveillance programs authorized under the USA Patriot Act and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Among the witnesses are James Carr, a former FISA court judge, and counsels of four federal intelligence gathering agencies. The PCLOB, an outgrowth of the 911 Commission, advises the President on policies to protect civil liberties while combating terrorism.”

Max1, good video reports. Snowden, Assange, Greenwald would all end up with a bag over their head being questioned on a military ship in international waters if the government could get their hands on them.

[I don’t recall where I got this link so if someone on this blawg posted it before (motivating me to squirrel it away in my ‘whimsy/vids’ folder, please take credit for it and thank you.]

It is time that we give the British government a Miranda warning: don’t tread on me. We will stop visiting your corrupt nation of chumps who do not have a constitution. Please quit sending schmucks over here like Ries whatshis name who is on CNN every night railing against our Constitution. Redcoats need to be shot on sight.

“As the Committee to Protect Journalists noted in their excellent report on the misuse of terror laws, “The number of journalists jailed worldwide hit 232 in 2012, 132 of whom were held on anti-terror or other national security charges. Both are records in the 22 years CPJ has documented imprisonments.”

Warping “terrorism” laws to suppress journalism is the hallmark of authoritarian regimes and deserves to be condemned by all. The Miranda case is a classic example of, as the State Department has put it, “misus[ing] terrorism laws to prosecute and imprison journalists.”

We call on the State Department to apply the same principle they’ve applied to these authoritarian regimes and condemn the UK for misusing its “terrorism” laws to suppress journalism and free expression.”

The U.S. and U.K. governments have taken the word “secret” and deformed it so as to match F. C. S. Schiller’s definition of “sacred“: namely, “a fear that anything so denominated cannot bear investigation.”

AP: ” The number of journalists jailed worldwide hit 232 in 2012, 132 of whom were held on anti-terror or other national security charges”
*

That’s an amazing number. The UK Snowden controversy is kind of a test for the US isn’t it. It would be nice if we passed.

I don’t recall journalism being such a dangerous profession. (Yeah, I remember the US sending rounds into Al Jezerra hotel rooms in Iraq, but overall, killing journalists was just uncool as I remember.)

Let us bow our heads in silence
Let us close our shuttered eyes
Let us ask no pointed questions
Let us rather swallow lies
…
=======================
Well done.

The Army manual I linked to up-thread (Interment & Relocation Camps) draws comments on other sites in accord with your poem.

They can’t believe that manual applies to CONUS (continential US) and won’t even consider it or peruse it.

Even though the manual itself has the following text in it:

10-67. The resettlement facility commander publishes, enforces, and updates the rules of conduct as necessary. The commander serves as the single point of contact, coordinating all matters within the resettlement facility and with outside organizations or agencies. Facility rules are brief, but clear, and kept to a minimum. The rules in figure 10-1 are similar to those used in support of Operation New Arrivals in August 1975 at Indiantown Gap, Pennsylvania. They also parallel the rules posted in support of Panama’s Operations Just Cause and Promote Liberty and Hurricane Katrina relief operations in New Orleans.

Some of the resettlement camps and facilities described in it are designed for 10 year confinement.

Dredd, I read within the last couple of weeks that there was going to be a dedicated Army unit trained for use in the US, that the formal assignment would be forthcoming within a matter of weeks. They were being pulled out of someplace (like Japan or Guam) and would be reassigned domestically. They would be used for emergencies of one sort or another. I’ve done several searches and can’t find the story. It was on a site that seemed legit but I forget which one. Have you run across something like that very recently? I have checked all my folders and can’t find it and I just can’t do a search that turns up anything like that? Was it all a dream? Don’t go to any trouble, I’m just asking.

Lottakatz,
“They would be used for emergencies of one sort or another.”

Sheesh. I thought that was why each state had a National Guard–ya know, to help that particular state when it had to deal with an emergency! Now the army is getting assigned this job? Didn’t the Founders mistrust standing armies?

I’m the kind of gal who is often compelled to jump up to get a book when I need to check a source or citation in the midst of a conversation, so now I’m off to try to help you find your link! I must know the rest of this story!!! :)

In 2002 USNORTHCOM was created during the Bush Administration whose stated mission, “is homeland defense and civil support, specifically to conduct operations to deter, prevent, and defeat threats and aggression aimed at the United States, its territories, and interests within the command’s assigned area of responsibility; and as directed by the President or Secretary of Defense, provide military assistance to civil authorities including consequence management operations.”

I found a few links that fit your description, but they’re from between 2008-2012, not a few weeks ago. Was the article published a few weeks ago or did you read it a few weeks ago?

The one article from Army Times (2008) noted that:

“Beginning Oct. 1 for 12 months, the 1st BCT will be under the day-to-day control of U.S. Army North, the Army service component of Northern Command, as an on-call federal response force for natural or manmade emergencies and disasters, including terrorist attacks. […]

But this new mission marks the first time an active unit has been given a dedicated assignment to NorthCom, a joint command established in 2002 to provide command and control for federal homeland defense efforts and coordinate defense support of civil authorities.

After 1st BCT finishes its dwell-time mission, expectations are that another, as yet unnamed, active-duty brigade will take over and that the mission will be a permanent one.”

A few thoughts on spam and the spam filter. Everyone here has had at least one comment grabbed by the spam filter.

Those are separate from comments caught in moderation. The latter appear in the comment queue in bright yellow highlighter. The moderation filter puts comments on “hold” until a human can look at them. They are usually there because one of the four words are in them. There was one in moderation last night that had one of the words as part of their email address. Since email addresses are not public, I freed it for publication. Sometimes, one of the magic bad words is part of the spelling of a legitimate word. For example, I had a comment caught in moderation filter because I used the word “ba$tardized” in a sentence. Perfectly good word, but one of the four words is part of the spelling and that got it blocked. Another thing that will get a comment caught in moderation is the use of more than two links. Two in a single comment is the limit. Need more? Put it in a separate comment.

The spam filter is run by something called Askimet. Here is a Great Truth. Askimet is pretty good, and although I have pulled a half dozen comments out today (mostly Lottakatz), I must have deleted over five hundred real spams. It is not just Askimet. Every blog site has to deal with spam. I spend a lot of time hanging out at the Help Desk on Daily Kos. There has been a huge number of spams sneak through the filter lately, but that is only a fraction of the ones that get caught. There are a lot of test spams that try to probe the filters. For example, DKos has been inundated with promotions for rock crushers. All kinds of rock crushers. Go figure. At least they are more interesting than all the people who claim their sister makes $78 dollars an hour surfing the internet. When a spammer is testing formulas that try to get through the filters, they are watching to see how long they stay visible before being deleted. That is one of the two reasons we try to empty the spam filter regularly. The other reason is that it is a lot easier to find one of Lottakatz comments in a list of fifty spams than five hundred.

Prairie Rose, gbk and Pete, THANK YOU for the assistance. I check the publication date of most notable items and check the body of the article to see if there are dates that would indicate that the information has been reprinted or updated. I guess that I failed to do that because I’m familiar with the info you have all so graciously referenced.

I was waiting on some follow-up information on what I thought was new info to be written and got to wondering about it when it wasn’t forthcoming. I must have read a reference to the older info and become horrified by the implications all over again. Which I did and am. The story Pete linked to was and is disturbing, third world countries roll out the Army when there are elections, not America. Thank you again and I am happy that there’s no really new and expanded plan.

Prairie Rose, you’re right, that’s what the Guard is (for). I did watch with interest when Army units were deployed to New Orleans in the aftermath of Katrina. It was such a cock-up/horrorshow even with the Guard there that I wasn’t as disturbed about their presence as I would normally have been. That attitude right there is a problem.

One of the interviews with General Honore’ (He made a real impression on me) was being held on the street and as it was going on an open truck transporting troops went by, slowly. Some of the troops had their rifles ‘up’, the butt resting on the seat next to them and the General hollered at the truck and told the troops very forcefully to the effect ‘get those rifles down, get ‘em down, this is America’, (not verbatim but real close) and then without missing a beat went back to the interview. That was impressive.

My real name has as its root a word barred by WordPress. The name for a female dog should not be labeled as a cuss word. Maybe they should call the censor CussWordPress. So, I have to print my name in Pig Latin. I get aggravated when some astardBay like Cameron has his name printed on the blog without censorship. He is one smelly artFay. And he thinks that his itShay does not stink. Then there is that Piers MorganFay who is not related to Capt Morgan. He attacks our Constitution every night on CNN and no one calls him a terrorist. Perhaps he is a scareorist. I am going to have to ask that guy JackMehoff if there is anything to such a name. A pro Second Amendment person is not a gun nut. A gun nut is a certain kind of buckshot which one uses when the little round pellets are scarce. Nuff said.

Lotta, that was junk “journalism”. It reads like The John Birch Society Daily or Poison Planet. These days when everyone can self-publish and self-publish some hateful political agenda (propaganda), there is a responsibility to assess the source. Do you know who published this? Did you notice the footnote on Cato? Could that give it political implications? Are there any secondary known publishers that confirm such a report? Have you seen any armies, or FEMA camps? A useful lesson was served this past weekend on bad sources. I’d hate to see them become acceptable sources.

“Terrorism’s definition is now so broad that is has lost its meaning except as a method of control over cowering citizens.”

It’s so broad that “anti-terrorism” is now another form of terrorism. It’s a threat of violence against those who won’t be silent or obedient.

“Criticize us, and we’ll throw you in prison or send a drone after you” only differs from a threat of a suicide bomb or hijacking in that the perpetrators won’t face legal consequences.

————————————————————

The attempts to silence Greenwald through harassment of Miranda are a lot like what happened to Peter Wright in the early 1980s and Philip Agee in the 1970s.

The Thatcher regime tried to silence Wright (the author of “Spycatcher”) for “violation of the official secrets act”, charges on par with treason. And the US tried to silence, arrest and black bag Agee who was writing and then published “CIA Diary”.

The reason they’re called dirty secrets is because it’s the filth of the world who try to keep them secret.

Insominia is hell/yelow journalism #1
PDM, I think that government capacity, or capability drives government actions in many cases. If you can build a nuclear bomb well lets build 9,482 of them! If you can start a war for shites and grins and you feel as if you need to do something, for some reason, well let’s start bombing Baghdad! If you can actually sweep up every electronic communication in the world on a daily basis, well by ghod, let’s do it!

What then? people with access to all that information are going to do name specific searches on spouses, significant others and neighbors, oh wait, they have already done so. Somebody is going to want a foreign presidents notes for an upcoming meeting with the President or Secretary of State, oh wait, they already do that. Someone in government is going to want all the financial info or sexy-time emails (if they exist) from a rival or a Congressman or an activist or an outspoken lawyer or a journalist. How do we know that has not been done? Trust in the integrity of the players? We don’t even know who all the player are and I don’t trust any of them, whoever they may be.

So if I see a first paragraph that says a particular military force, dedicated to domestic incidents (which is pretty amazing in itself) is ready to deploy if directed by the Commander in chief I believe it. I’d be flabbergasted if they aren’t in the alerting pyramid and ready to go wherever and as soon as they are alerted to maintain a state of readiness. Of course they are. We got ‘e we use ‘em. Every other relevant federal and state and possibly (targeted) municipal LEO and intelligence organization has been or will be. Every incident that will have large numbers of people in motion, or congregating, for any reason will be assessed for potential threats of various kinds and alerts will go out. The higher the value or level of political involvement the higher the alert. That’s what we do now, we have the capability and a perceived need.

Insominia is hell/yellow journalism #2
If you read the CNN link in GBK’s posting those troops are being trained in civilian policing. here’s a relevant quote: “The Army says the unit would be deployed to help local, state or federal agencies deal with such incidents, not take the lead. The law enforcement-type training is not connected to its new mission, it says.” Right.

As far as The Examiner article being yellow journalism, true. The article is that alright but the first paragraph about being put on alert, potentially deployed? That is chilling to me because I think it’s true. Not necessarily for the reasons stated nor for the ends envisioned but true nonetheless. We have deployed soldiers at civilian DUI checkpoints (as observers as I recall) on California highways at least once. I’m not cool with that. That’s un-American IMO.

We don’t have military on our streets and highways unless a situation is so extraordinary that no other force is capable of dealing with a matter. It took about two weeks to deploy military troops to NOLA and darn near 50k National guard were already there but the place was still chaos. The National Guard was mobilized in new York on 9/11 but military troops weren’t, the Air Force not withstanding. There weren’t military troops on the ground. We don’t put troops on the ground in America and the first steps in that direction short of another Katrina are scary as hell. Because it becomes easier.

Pete was just offering a link that I might have seen and been the one I was talking about. He is without sin.

Dredd, I read within the last couple of weeks that there was going to be a dedicated Army unit trained for use in the US, that the formal assignment would be forthcoming within a matter of weeks. They were being pulled out of someplace (like Japan or Guam) and would be reassigned domestically. They would be used for emergencies of one sort or another. I’ve done several searches and can’t find the story. It was on a site that seemed legit but I forget which one. Have you run across something like that very recently? I have checked all my folders and can’t find it and I just can’t do a search that turns up anything like that? Was it all a dream? Don’t go to any trouble, I’m just asking.===========================
They are already trained and deployed, and have been operational since at least 1975.

Here is a quote from the manual:

The rules in figure 10-1 are similar to those used in support of Operation New Arrivals in August 1975 at Indiantown Gap, Pennsylvania. They also parallel the rules posted in support of Panama’s Operations Just Cause and Promote Liberty and Hurricane Katrina relief operations in New Orleans.

The scope is worldwide, not just in CONUS (continental US):

10-18. Military police units may be deployed and employed in support of civil-military operations anywhere in the world. Military police who are supporting civil-military operations must be briefed and understand the intent of these operations. Police intelligence operations are significant enablers during civil-military operations as is the proper treatment of all categories of detainees and DCs. Having a proper mind set and good situational awareness is critical. U.S. armed forces may be called upon to relieve human suffering (such as that encountered after a natural disaster), and appropriate discipline measures and controls are enacted to meet each situation.

The basic squad is 32 soldiers, but it goes up to a battalion as well:

3-2. The [theater detainee reporting centers] TDRC is a modular organization that is comprised of 32 personnel who are capable of deploying as a full organization in major combat operations as a team or a combination of up to 4 teams to support small-scale operations. It functions as the field operations agency for the CONUS-based NDRC. It is the central agency responsible for maintaining information on detainees and their personal property within an assigned theater of operations or in CONUS [continental US]. The TDRC is a theater asset that provides detainee data management. The TDRC normally colocates with the CDO staff, but may be located at the TIF in small-scale operations.

Remember that those who prepared these manuals are following orders from Pentagon sources who see themselves as humanitarian saviors.

Those interned may or may not see it that way, depending on the factual situation that was used as the reason for their detainment, re-programming, and/or relocation.

Global warming induced climate disasters worldwide are the subject-matter of these military police operations, but they also have the word “terrorism” in the manual.

As JT and other commenters point out, that word can mean whatever they want it to mean at any given time.

IOW there will be some journalists among those who are “saved”, but others who are there will be grateful people … perhaps those whose homes have been destroyed by fossil fuel use and its impact on the Global Climate System.

BTW the military is the single largest user of fossil fuels there is on Earth.

Insominia is hell/yellow journalism #2
If you read the CNN link in GBK’s posting those troops are being trained in civilian policing. here’s a relevant quote: “The Army says the unit would be deployed to help local, state or federal agencies deal with such incidents, not take the lead. The law enforcement-type training is not connected to its new mission, it says.” Right.
…
==============================
The manual I provided a link to up-thread was published in 2010.

Katrina was in 2005, so three years after that the military police were still doing traffic cop stuff in the theater of operations we call NO:

In July of 2008, Lockett was driving in his vehicle to a class at the Southern University of New Orleans (SUNO). At the same time, two military police officers, Jonathan Bieber and Brandt Arceneaux, were conducting patrol in the area as members of the National Guard Task Force assisting the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) with law enforcement duties pursuant to an order issued by Governor Jindal after Hurricane Katrina. Bieber and Arceneaux [military police officers] observed Lockett’s vehicle and believed it to be traveling over the speed limit. Based on this observation, the defendants effectuated a traffic stop of Lockett.

Insominia is hell/yellow journalism #2
If you read the CNN link in GBK’s posting those troops are being trained in civilian policing.
…
=================================
Here is another quote from the Lockett case I just commented about above (my comment to you which the censors peed on themselves over has still not shown up yet … so OS hasn’t shown up either yet).

This quote has to do with military police being immune from liability for various wrongdoing while policing:

Lockett contends that the district court erred in finding that the defendants were entitled to qualified immunity with respect to his claim of false arrest. As set forth below, because there is no genuine issue of material fact as to whether the defendants had probable cause to believe that Lockett was driving in violation of the speed limit, his arrest does not violate the Fourth Amendment. The district court therefore properly afforded the defendants qualified immunity regarding his claim of false arrest.

The doctrine of qualified immunity shields government officials “from liability for civil damages insofar as their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights …”

In 2002 USNORTHCOM was created during the Bush Administration whose stated mission, “is homeland defense and civil support, specifically to conduct operations to deter, prevent, and defeat threats and aggression aimed at the United States, its territories, and interests within the command’s assigned area of responsibility; and as directed by the President or Secretary of Defense, provide military assistance to civil authorities including consequence management operations.”
…
In 2008, active army combat units (1st Brigade Combat Team of the 3rd Infantry) were transferred from Iraq to Fort Stewart, Georgia.
…
Posse Comitatus died in 2002, and was buried, without honors, in 2008.

There might be something more recent than this; I would not be surprised.=============================
I was researching this once upon a time, and in 2011 I found a USNORTHCOM opinion on their website which indicated that Posse Comitatus was still in full force and effect:

The PCA [Posse Comitatus Act] generally prohibits U.S. military personnel from direct participation in law enforcement activities. Some of those law enforcement activities would include interdicting vehicles, vessels, and aircraft; conducting surveillance, searches, pursuit and seizures; or making arrests on behalf of civilian law enforcement authorities. Prohibiting direct military involvement in law enforcement is in keeping with long-standing U.S. law and policy limiting the military’s role in domestic affairs.

I also found posts by DHS personnel who disagreed that Posse Comitatus was still law:

The Posse Comitatus Act has traditionally been viewed as a major barrier to the use of U.S. military forces in planning for homeland defense. In fact, many in uniform believe that the act precludes the use of U.S. military assets in domestic security operations in any but the most extraordinary situations. As is often the case, reality bears little resemblance to the myth for homeland defense planners. Through a gradual erosion of the act’s prohibitions over the past 20 years, posse comitatus today is more of a procedural formality than an actual impediment to the use of U.S. military forces in homeland defense.

(Will The Military Become The Police?- 3, quoting “The Myth of Posse Comitatus“). Interestingly, the military removed their post from their website, but I supply a link to in from The Wayback Machine in that post.

In honor of the subject matter of this post, and JT who began the post inter alia with this gem:

However, the document then includes the following line: “Additionally the disclosure, or threat of disclosure, is designed to influence a government and is made for the purpose of promoting a political or ideological cause. This therefore falls within the definition of terrorism …”

That is the chilling line. It seems something right out of “V for Vendetta” and all that is missing is Peter Creedy and his agents of Finger.

Since his post has to do with Snowden, surveillance, and the military NSA, let’s revisit the USNORTHCOM statement on their website in 2011:

The PCA [Posse Comitatus Act] generally prohibits U.S. military personnel from direct participation in law enforcement activities. Some of those law enforcement activities would include … conducting surveillance, searches … and seizures; or making arrests on behalf of civilian law enforcement authorities. Prohibiting direct military involvement in law enforcement is in keeping with long-standing U.S. law and policy limiting the military’s role in domestic affairs.

Lotta, Pete is a pretty quiet guy but when he does say something it is something thoughtful and sometimes very funny. Sanity seems to prevail in his life. That’s why the Examiner piece caught me by such surprise. I’ve since followed the Examiner’s links. They are truly a schlock outfit. They are owned by a right wing billionaire who also owns The Weekly Standard and a couple of other right wing publications. The Examiner came into being in 2008 and describes itself as providing a forum for 100,000 writers . They describe their content as journalism and entertainment. It is junk and using it as a source is a disservice. Such sources are being used more frequently here – even by Mr. Turley. The Daily Mail is a tabloid, a rag, an equivalent to our old Enquirer. Brits know the Daily Mail and its terrible history. Leading up to WWII, they supported the Nazis. Their “journalism” has not improved with age. It seems to me an award winning law blog ought to aim higher. At least if it wants to be trusted and taken seriously.

There’s a huge disconnect between the mindset of the intelligence community and everyone else outside it. Considering the majority still lies with those on the outside, you’d think they’d make more of an effort to connect. But, as this statement, made to the PCLOB (Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board), indicates the gap hasn’t narrowed in the slightest.

Employees at the National Security Agency follow the same standards as controversial “stop and frisk” policies when accessing phone surveillance data, intelligence officials said Tuesday.

Though the agency collects data about all U.S. phone calls, NSA employees need to demonstrate “reasonable and articulable suspicion” when they want to access that phone call data.

“It’s effectively the same standard as stop and frisk,” NSA General Counsel Rajesh De said during a hearing held by the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, which supervises anti-terrorism surveillance programs.

It simply cannot be stressed enough that you need to choose your words wisely when discussing programs that are already suspected of violating civil liberties. Comparing them to something just as controversial only calls the programs into further question, not to mention Rajesh De’s judgement.”

The German magazine Der Spiegel published a statement Sunday from Edward Snowden that it translated from English to German. Snowden has provided the ACLU with the original English text:

“In a very short period, the world has learned that some intelligence services operate unaccountable and occasionally criminal dragnet surveillance programs. While the NSA and GCHQ appear to be the worst offenders, we must remember that mass surveillance is a global problem and needs global solutions. Such programs are not just a threat to privacy, but to free expression and open societies. We must not allow the existence of spying technology to determine political policy; we have a moral duty to ensure our law and values constrain surveillance programs and protect basic human rights.

“Society can only understand and control these problems through robust, open, and informed debate. In the beginning, a few governments, embarrassed by the revelation of their mass surveillance systems, engaged in an unprecedented campaign of persecution to suppress that debate by intimidating journalists and criminalizing truth-telling. At that time, the public had no ability to measure the benefit of these revelations, and deferred to the judgment of government regarding the wisdom of this decision, but today it is clear that this was a mistake, and such action does not serve the public interest. The fruits of the debate they sought to avoid are now being enjoyed in countries around the world, and the beneficiary of this new public knowledge is society.

“Individuals have a civic responsibility to fight the suppression of information regarding matters of critical public importance. Telling the truth is not a crime.”

Remember Antiwar.com, the online news magazine that discovered it had been targeted by the FBI? The ACLU of Northern California filed a freedom of the press lawsuit to obtain full FBI records on Antiwar.com and its founding editors, Eric Garris and Justin Raimondo.

The ACLU got involved because freedom of the press is a cornerstone of our democracy. Government surveillance of news organizations interferes with democracy and journalists’ ability to report the news.

We received the first disclosure of documents in response to our lawsuit, and they confirm our suspicions that the FBI targeted and spied on Antiwar.com, Garris and Raimondo based on their First Amendment protected activity and kept records about that activity in violation of federal law. They also illustrate some very sloppy work on the part of the FBI and how following up on a bogus lead generates a cycle of wasted intelligence resources and targeting of innocent Americans.

(The FBI disclosed 47 pages of documents, but is still withholding over 100 additional pages it collected on these journalists. One key memo was produced with information disclosed that had previously been redacted—prior deletions are highlighted in this copy of the documents for ease of reference.)

The recommendation (made in the memo) to open a preliminary investigation was based on incorrect information and deeply flawed factors.

One of the factors that prompted the FBI to investigate the editors of the online magazine was that Justin Raimondo writes under this pseudonym. The content of a writer’s published opinions and whether they write under a pseduonym should never be used to characterize someone as a potential threat to national security, or justify an FBI investigation. The First Amendment protects anonymous speech too. News articles and the comments of the public should not be included in FBI intelligence files unless they’re necessary to a real criminal investigation.

The second flawed factor that prompted the FBI investivgation is that “many individuals worldwide…including individuals who are currently under investigation” view the website. Presumably people around the world, “including individuals who are currently under [FBI] investigation” view all kinds of websites and news sources. Being part of a successful media outlet should not make a journalist suspicious and should not be the basis for government surveillance.

The third flawed and incorrect factor was the FBI’s mistaken conclusion that Eric Garris had threatened to hack the FBI website. In fact, Garris reported to the FBI that he was the recipient of a hacking threat to Antiwar.com. After reporting this threat, he was instructed to forward the email to the FBI, which he did. The FBI later concluded that Garris had threatened to hack the FBI website and placed him under suspicion.

The rest of the good and bad news from this disclosure? Well, the good news is that the San Francisco Field Office of the FBI declined the suggestion to open a preliminary investigation. The bad news is that two FBI offices later wrote memos citing the original flawed and improper threat assessment, showing both a waste of intelligence resources and how bad intelligence keeps producing more bad intelligence, leading to more and more records in an FBI file about innocent people engaged in constitutionally protected activities. As if to demonstrate how long this information can sit around haunting an innocent person, the FBI file also included a 1972 memo about Eric Garris’s constitutionally protected participation in an anti-Vietnam war protest.

The improper investigations mean that Garris and Raimondo continue to be flagged in FBI memos. This downward spiral is based on the improper and incorrect conclusions the FBI made in the initial investigation. This is enough for us to ask the court to expunge these records from our clients’ files, which we will do.

We also plan to keep pushing for the 137 pages from the FBI’s files on Garris, Raimondo and Antiwar.com that the FBI withheld from disclosure. It’s troubling to know that the FBI kept so many more records on these folks and imagine what they might say. Stay tuned to find out.